Discrimination and Employer Retaliation

[urkiddinme]

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: TX

I was wondering. If an individual files a discrimination case against their employer and the case goes to mediation, and if the employer gives the individual an agreement to sign during mediation which states that they will no longer look for future employment with this company isn't this considered retaliation? Or does retaliation not apply here? Is it also common for the mediator to utilize tactics that instill fear?

I realize that many of the mediators are overloaded with cases and they want to close each case as quickly as possible, but is this legal and common practice?

[Mr. Knowitall]

You mean if you negotiate a settlement with the employer whereby you accept money but agree that you will no longer work with that employer, is it "retaliation"? No. It's your settlement.

[PattyPA]

Plus, why would a company want to rehire an employee who filed an EEOC claim when there could easily be 100 candidates for an opening who HAVEN'T filed one?

[wndsrfgrl]

Well, if I am reading this correctly, it's against the law for a company to retaliate against someone who reports discrimination or FLSA violations. There may be others a company can hire who HAVEN'T reported such violations, but this is telling our society that it's ok for companies to act in an unethical manner. And, companies wonder why employees go postal. Well, it's because how they treat their employees--unfairly and with disrespect.

I have run into so many people who have lost their jobs because they tried to report sexual harassment, discrimination, and overtime pay violations. What did they get? The can, the pink slip...

And, since many employees are allowing this type of behavior by not reporting violations companies consistently violate employment & labor laws (70% of them reported by the DOL). Employees are basically saying, "Please hire me. I will be your drone and allow you to walk all over me so that your company and executives can make tons of money." How unfortunate that America allows its companies to run in this fashion. It's quite pathetic. It sounds ruthless, but it's the truth.

Moving on.

[PattyPA]

Seriously, you expect a company against whom you have filed suit to rehire you? And why would you WANT to work for them again? No law is going to force the employer to hire someone who is in the process of being the plaintiff in a lawsuit against them. And believe me, in this job market, there are twenty other reasons they could come up with instead of "because you filed a complaint".

If this is a condition of the settlement and you don't want to comply with it, don't agree to the settlement.